jagfox Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 http://news.sky.com/story/1389496/half-of-women-take-prescription-medicines-study Excludes contraceptives and anti-smoking prescriptions. Costs the NHS £15Billion a year. Is this a good thing or indicative of our willingness to accept multiple prescriptions to cure our ills? Statins, painkillers and anti-depressants are the top 3 type of prescriptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweeperDee Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Probably a contributing factor as to why we are living longer these days. Media are trying to play it up and pass it off as some sort of bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Includes contraceptivesIf it includes that then I don't see what the big deal is unless we abolish the Act of Settlement and bring back absolute monarchy. Is birth control a bad thing all of a sudden? Wouldn't be such a good news story if you took that away from the figures I guess. Eta: I'll be on prescription medicines for the rest of my life, helped by the city centre pharmacy repeatedly ordering them in for me it has to be said (what Addie makes reference to below). Thank fcuk for the Scottish 'freebies'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addie Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Doesn't surprise me. I work in a GP Practice and the amount of prescriptions we do each day is astounding. One thing that really pisses me off is the CMS - a repeat prescription service that allows the pharmacy to prescribe meds for up to 56 weeks with no review by the Doctor. The amount of waste that causes is terrible IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoseKillie Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Well, I'm currently costing the NHS three figures a week for various prescriptions relating to my recovery from cancer. In saying that, for the last thirty years I've cost them next to bugger all. Swings and roundabouts, really. In a wider context, there should be much more control of the prescription (and repeated supply) of anti-depressants, which have for many years led to long-term addiction for many patients - often without their knowing that it could be an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
th1stleandr0se Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 If it includes contraceptives then it isn't that much of a story but it would be interesting to see a breakdown of the figures to see how many were for anti-depressants, high blood pressure, etc. to see if there is actually a problem with our society in some ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweeperDee Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Well, I'm currently costing the NHS three figures a week for various prescriptions relating to my recovery from cancer. In saying that, for the last thirty years I've cost them next to bugger all. Swings and roundabouts, really. In a wider context, there should be much more control of the prescription (and repeated supply) of anti-depressants, which have for many years led to long-term addiction for many patients - often without their knowing that it could be an issue. What I find very wasteful is the sort of "we will try this and hope for the best" attitude to some anti-depressant prescriptions. Like you said, there's often a lack of understanding (or ignorance) about what potentially could be the issue, so GPs/Psychiatrists and the like chuck any old medications at the patient in the hope it goes onto help with their issue. The money would be better spent trying to understand why people develop certain mental health issues and then try and prevent them from developing where they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagfox Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 According to latest news report anti-cholesteral statins are #1 with Pain-killers and anti-depressants making up the top 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoseKillie Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 According to latest news report anti-cholesteral statins are #1 with Pain-killers and anti-depressants making up the top 3. Painkillers - another pet hate. Taken by eedjits so they can carry on their lives as normal, rather than give the body time to fix what's actually causing the pain. And then, of course, ending up with a more serious problem. And yes, they're eedjits, as you can get paracetamol and ibuprofen at the supermarket for less than a packet of crisps. Anyone getting this stuff at £8 plus a pop is just daft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagfox Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 Apologies, study excludes contraceptives and anti-smoking prescriptions. 30% around 307 million are for cardio-vascular disease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
th1stleandr0se Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Painkillers - another pet hate. Taken by eedjits so they can carry on their lives as normal, rather than give the body time to fix what's actually causing the pain. And then, of course, ending up with a more serious problem. And yes, they're eedjits, as you can get paracetamol and ibuprofen at the supermarket for less than a packet of crisps. Anyone getting this stuff at £8 plus a pop is just daft. Are prescriptions not free in Scotland? I don't actually get any so I'm not certain but I thought that was one of the SNP's "big achievements". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Vaughn Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Better to have free prescriptions for the middle classes than spend the millions on getting rid if the need for food banks. It's a masterstroke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDuffman Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Are prescriptions not free in Scotland? I don't actually get any so I'm not certain but I thought that was one of the SNP's "big achievements".They are free to the person getting them, but obviously the government has to pay the NHS for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDuffman Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Better to have free prescriptions for the middle classes than spend the millions on getting rid if the need for food banks. It's a masterstroke. The free prescriptions are for everyone not just the middle classes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eindhovendee Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I blame the immigrants, coming over here and eating all our pills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 The free prescriptions are for everyone not just the middle classes. I think what he's suggesting is that the well off should pay for prescriptions to fund basic living for the poor, in which case I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man of Aran Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I blame the immigrants parrots, coming over here and eating all our pills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock001 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 According to the bbc there are around 20 prescriptions per person per year on average in Scotland. That sounds utterly fecking crazy to me. How is it even possible unless every refill of a repeat prescription counts seperately? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Better to have free prescriptions for the middle classes than spend the millions on getting rid if the need for food banks. It's a masterstroke. Uh huh: how would the revenue made through prescription charges (less the cost of administering a means-tested system, so not much if any revenue anyway) 1) justifiably leave the NHS budget for general government spending and 2) actually get rid of the "need" for food banks? What specific measures could be funded by charging for prescriptions, and how would they eliminate food banks? Seems to me that you haven't actually thought out how that would actually work, but just chucked in a doe-eyed 'but... foodbanks!' straw man to justify your seethe at another top-selling SNP policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock001 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Better to have free prescriptions for the middle classes than spend the millions on getting rid if the need for food banks. It's a masterstroke. Lets face it, the old system was worse. The charge is supposed to be for the processing of the prescription and you get the drugs for free. In England they charge £8.05. How useless is the system they have if they are trying to claim it costs that much to process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.